Load shedding has made an ominous return. South Africans were spared the brunt of Eskom’s glaringly obvious ineptitudes over the festive period and for the first month of 2019. Unfortunately, the national power utility has, as a result of both planned and unplanned maintenance, been forced to implement a series of rolling rotational cuts – much to the frustration of citizens and the economy at large.

While Pubic Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan managed to buffer blackouts at the end of 2018 – thanks to a fierce contingency strategy which saw Eskom executives forfeit their festive season leave – it’s been reported that load shedding could last until April.

For the average citizen, the inevitably of these rotational cuts prove to be disrupting and frustrating. The only solution to mitigate the harsh effects of rotational load shedding is to be well prepared. Daily load shedding schedules, while sometimes disobeyed by the utility, provide South Africans with some semblance of control in an otherwise incontrollable quagmire. Forewarned is forearmed.

What is load shedding?

To understand the daily load shedding schedule and its ever-present
irregularities, one needs to understand why load shedding occurs in the first
place. It’s no secret that Eskom is in the grips of an operational and
financial crisis. The fundamental causes of Eskom’s failures are well
documented and include elements of corruption, mismanagement and disastrous
maintenance programmes.

Whatever the causes, the manifestation remains the same;
Eskom is unable to meet the nation’s power demands. This inability to supply puts
massive strain on the power grid – especially during peak hours, generally from
10:00 until 20:00. If Eskom, when already at full generational capacity, does
not ration certain suburbs to lighten the load, the power grid could suffer a catastrophic
failure, resulting in a nationwide blackout which could take days to rectify.

There are four stages of load shedding – with stages 1 and 2
being the most common:

Stage 1 allows for up to 1000 MW of the national load to be shed. Requires the least amount of load shedding, 3 times over a four-day period for two hours at a time, or 3 times over an eight-day period for four hours at a time.

Stage 2 allows for up to 2000 MW of the national load to be shed. Doubles the frequency of Stage 1, which means you will be scheduled for load shedding 6 times over a four-day period for two hours at a time, or 6 times over an eight-day period for four hours at a time.

Stage 3 allows for up to 3000 MW of the national load to be shed. Increases the frequency of Stage 2 by 50%, which means you will be scheduled for load shedding 9 times over a four-day period for two hours at a time, or 9 times over an eight-day period for four hours at a time.

Stage 4 allows for up to 4000 MW of the national load to be shed. Doubles the frequency of Stage 2, which means you will be scheduled for load shedding 12 times over a four day period for two hours at a time, or 12 times over an eight day period for four hours at a time.

How to check your daily load shedding schedule

To find out if, or when, your area or suburb will be impacted by load shedding, you first need to know whether your supply of electricity comes directly from Eskom or from the municipality. Let’s deal with Eskom-direct supplied areas first.

Eskom’s load shedding portal provides up to date details on the current stage of load shedding, the propensity for further rotational cuts, and an area search for direct consumers. It’s an easy to use search function, which although not always 100% accurate, at least provides a rough estimate of what to expect, when. To check your daily load shedding schedule, go onto loadshedding.eskom.co.za and type either your suburb/village/area into the quick search field.

You can also call Eskom’s customer contact centre at 0860 037 566.

If your electricity is supplied via the municipality, you need to refer to the table below and contact the relative authorities – either via the web or phone.